Chapter Two
Tavish rolled into Sheridan, Colorado, in the late afternoon, liking the feel of the picturesque town.
It was surrounded by forest and mountains, much like his own ancestral home.
People bustled up and down Main Street, where a variety of shops lined each side.
The busiest place seemed to be the diner smack-dab in the middle of town.
He finally found what he was searching for at the end of the busy street.
Parking, he exited his rented SUV and headed into the Chamber of Commerce building.
Large black-and-white photos of Sheridan lined one brick wall, detailing how it had grown over the years, all the way down to a grainy photo of an active lumberyard.
A young woman sat at the desk, smiling at him.
“Good afternoon,” she greeted.
“Hello,” he replied. “I have an appointment with Alpha Savidge.”
“Your name?”
“Tavish MacAlary.”
The young woman smiled prettily and picked up the phone to let Jericho know he was there. A moment later, the man walked out of an office, and Tavish immediately felt his alpha power and fought baring his neck. He might not be part of a pack, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his own power.
“Hello,” Jericho greeted, holding out his hand. “Welcome to the Sheridan Pack.”
Tavish took it and shook. “Thank you for meeting with me and allowing me to visit.”
“No problem. How long do you think you’ll be in Sheridan?”
“Only long enough to get my divorce papers signed.”
“Oh,” Jericho said with a frown. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It was an arrangement that’s no longer needed.”
“Would your wife happen to be Mairi Monroy?”
“Aye,” Tavish replied in a questionable tone.
“She’s Scottish, too,” Jericho explained.
“Ah, the accent is a dead giveaway. Would you happen to know where she’d be?”
“She works with her cousin, Keegan, at the coffee shop down the street.”
“Excellent. Then I should be out of Sheridan in an hour or so.”
“You’ll have to catch her tomorrow morning. The shop closes at three.”
Tavish checked his watch. “Very well. Where would you suggest to be a good place to eat and retire for the evening? I’ll use the time to do some work.”
“The diner has excellent food, and I should know because my luna works there. As for accommodations, you’re more than welcome to stay at the pack lodge. Has all the amenities plus high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi. It’s not too far away.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’ll have my beta open it up. Can I have him call you?”
“Aye. Thank you.”
They talked a few more minutes before Tavish left the building, giving the receptionist a nod of goodbye. He decided to leave his rental parked where it was and walked toward the diner, enjoying the crisp air of the late afternoon.
As he opened the diner door, a tall woman was exiting.
She smiled at him. Very pretty yet he felt nothing, which was damn annoying.
It had been years since he’d had a lover.
He may not want his so-called wife, but that didn’t mean he’d break the vows he took.
First and foremost, however, was securing his divorce.
As he entered the busy diner, a mouthwatering scent of spice and vanilla hit him.
At first, he thought the smell came from the diner itself, but as he looked around, he saw an absolutely stunning woman in the back booth.
Her long red hair hung straight, and a spattering of freckles ran across the bridge of her nose and cheeks.
When their gazes briefly met, an electrical charge hit him in the chest and something surged front and center in his head. What the hell?
Mate!
The word reverberated through his head and he had a knee-jerk reaction.
Stumbling as he reached out to hold onto a chair so he wouldn’t fall, thankful no one was occupying it.
Suddenly, he knew exactly what had just come alive in his body.
His wolf ... what the ... did he really just hear his wolf?
Tavish looked around, trying to determine if anyone else had said it, but no one paid any attention to him.
Mate!
It was his wolf! The new revelation led to an internal monologue of repeating “What the fuck,” over and over again, while the beast prowled restlessly. Urging him to go to the woman because she was their mate.
Nausea rose, and he mentally screamed in his head to calm down. The first time ever doing that. What. The. Fuck. Where had his wolf been? Why now?
Go to our mate.
The woman. Was she the reason?
Now! Go to our mate!
“Shut up,” he whispered under his breath.
Although most in the diner were wolves, there were a few humans, and he didn’t know if they knew of the shifter world.
Luckily no one seemed to notice his entire belief system breaking apart in real time.
He needed a moment not around people, so he hurried back out of the diner in an effort to find somewhere to scream.
He bent over and rested his hands on knees, gulping in a few deep breaths to settle the nausea rolling through his stomach.
“What are you?” he demanded out loud. There was no way to have this conversation in his head when it was occupied by an agitated wolf who only wanted to mount their mate and procreate. “Who are you?”
You know who I am.
“Why haven’t you talked to me before?”
Go to our mate.
“Damn it, answer me!”
No pack. No reason.
No pack. The revelation staggered him. There weren’t packs in Scotland because there weren’t wolves there anymore.
His father told him they had to hide their dual nature, so they had to be isolated.
Never talk about their shifter side, even if they met another shifter.
Push their beast into a corner of their mind and ignore him.
Now his wolf implied that packs brought communication between man and wolf.
This was all so confusing and he was going to need more than a few minutes to wrap his head around the new jaw-dropping surprise.
I want our mate.
“Wait a fucking minute!” he snapped, standing straight. Now he felt like pacing, going back and forth in agitation. “I’m having an existential crisis, thanks to your silence. How could you do this to me? I thought all the great things I’d heard about being a wolf were a load of bullshit.”
Nothing.
“Don’t you dare stay silent, you mangy wolf!”
I’ll talk for our mate.
“Listen,” he snapped. “First and foremost, we are married to another woman. We aren’t free to be with our mate.”
His wolf calmed down, cocking his head to listen.
How he knew the motions of his wolf, he didn’t know.
It was ... implied. Understood? Logical?
It was hard to determine the right words to use about how his wolf acted.
He’d always believed the beast was a parasite leeching off him, only revealing himself once a month during the full moon.
“Okay,” he said, trying to focus. “We’re going into that diner to talk to our mate, but remember, I’m still a married man. We are not going to do anything until we track down my wife and get her to sign the divorce papers.”
His wolf didn’t like that, but he also understood. The pacing ceased and he sat down on his haunches to wait. Tavish would never disrespect the vows he took, despite being in a forced marriage.
Walking back into the diner, he immediately looked in the back booth for his woman, but she wasn’t there. Disappointment surged through him, and it pissed his wolf off.
You lose our mate, I’ll never talk to you again.
“Is that supposed to scare me?” he muttered under his breath. “Not a single peep in thirty years and suddenly you’re very chatty. Where’ve you been?”
I’ve always been here, my human.
Just then, a woman walked up to him and the surge of power emanating from her let him know this was the luna of the pack, Jericho’s mate, with a little baby bump barely visible. He bowed his head in respect.
“Welcome,” she greeted. “Haven’t seen you before.”
“Just passing through,” he replied.
“From across the pond, I take it.”
He nodded. “A business trip. If you don’t mind, what happened to the lady in the back booth?”
The luna glanced where he indicated. “Oh, they both left. With your accent, you must be Mairi’s—”
Just then his cell phone rang as he was about to ask for more information on his runaway wife. Once glance showed a number from Colorado.
“Excuse me,” he said to the luna. She nodded, smiled, and stepped away as he accepted the call. “MacAlary here.”
“Lord MacAlary, this is Ledger Klayman, beta to the Sheridan Pack. I believe Alpha Jericho told you to expect my call.”
“Aye, he did.”
“I just wanted to let you know that the pack lodge is open and I’ve sent you directions on how to get there.”
“Thank you,” Tavish said.
“My pleasure. Enjoy your stay.”
Ledger disconnected the call, and he moved to the counter and sat. The luna walked over.
“Hungry?”
He was, although his stomach was in knots. Everything was twisted up inside his head, and all he wanted to do was find Mairi Monroy, but his stomach rumbled.
“Whatever your special is, thank you.”
“Good choice,” she said. “Coming right up.”
True to her word, a few minutes later his dinner was served, and the food was, surprisingly, very good.
Once he was done, he paid his bill and walked back to his rental car.
Lost in thought, he accidently bumped into someone and his hands came up automatically to steady the smaller form in front of him.
It was the mystery woman from the diner.
Once again, his wolf surged forward and the word mate roared through his head.
“Excuse me, lass,” he murmured, stepping back. “I saw you in the diner.”
“So, you did.”